BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University senior Martin Ceisel has received a Rotary Cultural Ambassadorial Scholarship. The $17,000 Cultural Ambassadorial Scholarship provides for six months of intensive language study and cultural immersion in a foreign country.
Ceisel, an international studies major, is from Coronado, Calif.
Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarships are intended to promote international understanding and friendly relations between people of different countries. The Ambassadorial Scholarship program, the world’s largest privately funded international scholarship program, has allowed nearly 38,000 men and women to study abroad. In 2005-06 approximately 800 scholarships were awarded.
The application process for the scholarships, awarded yearly, involves a paper application, letters of recommendation, evaluations and an interview with the district selection committee.
“I thought Martin would make an outstanding candidate for the scholarship because he has the perfect blend of a student who is gifted academically, humble, service-oriented, and has a good international perspective,” said Warren Kistner, director of the IWU Craig C. Hart Career Center, who will be Ceisel’s sponsor from the Bloomington Rotary Club.
Ceisel will study in the Slovak Republic at the Center for Language and Academic Preparation at the Bratislava School of Law located in Bratislava, the capital of the Slovak Republic. He will begin his program in October 2009.